Info
E-mail oconnormiriamc@gmail.com
Instagram miriam_o_connor
STATEMENT
Miriam O’Connor is from Cork and was educated at Technological University, Dublin and later completed a Research Masters at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology, Dublin (2011). In her practice she draws inspiration from the sights, sounds and language of everyday life. She is curious about the multifaceted roles photography occupies in culture and the manner in which this persuasive medium permeates the way we engage with the world around us. Rather than providing answers, O’ Connor positions photography as a tool for posing questions, a playful medium that commands its own attention and analysis. Using photographs, text and printed matter, her projects have explored themes around looking and seeing; the relationship between camera and subject and the complex nature of photographic representation. Following her relocation to the family farm in recent years, O’Connor now occupies a dual role of farmer and artist, where she is interested in engaging with the elasticity of the photographic medium through everyday agricultural life.
Recent work includes Not Business As Usual, a new commission with the Glucksman and Cork University Business School for the UCC Art Collection (2023), The Fertiliser Spreader in, A Growing Enquiry, Art and Agriculture at the Royal Hibernian Academy (2022), Camera at the Mart at Roscommon Arts Centre (2022). Other recent solo shows include, Tomorrow is Sunday at Macroom Town Hall, Co. Cork (2021), at Ashford Gallery, RHA, Dublin (2021) and Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh (2020). Publications include, the Condition Report Register (2022), Tomorrow is Sunday (2020), The Legacy Project (2013) and Attention Seekers (2012). She is the 2022 recipient of the Platform 31 Award, Arts Council Agility Award (2021), Arts Council of Ireland Visual Artist Bursary (2020) and the Visual Artists Ireland Experiment! Award (2020). Her work is held in public and private collections and has been exhibited and distributed extensively. Her work is part of FUTURES, a photography platform that pools the resources and talent programmes of leading photography institutions across Europe and A Woman’s Work, a project that uses photography and digital media to challenge the dominant view of gender and industry in Europe. She is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork County Council, Visual Artists Ireland and Culture Ireland.
Member of Visual Artists Ireland.
AWARDS – GRANTS – COMMISSIONS
2024 – Arts Council of Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary
2022 – PLATFORM 31 Award
2022 – Roscommon Arts Centre (Commission)
2021 – Arts Council of Ireland, Agility Award
2020 – Arts Council of Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary
2020 – Visual Artists Ireland, EXPERIMENT! Award
2020 – A Woman’s Work (In Conjunction with Gallery of Photography Ireland)
2019 – Project Arts Centre (Commission)
2018 – Arts Council of Ireland, Visual Arts Bursary
2018 – FUTURES Platform Selection
2017 – Cork County Council Bursary
2017 – FRESH EYES – International Artists Rethink Aarhus (Commission)
2016 – Source Photographic Review (Commission)
2015 – New York Times Magazine (Commission)
2013 – Nominee for Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Awards
2013 – National Women’s Council of Ireland (Commission)
2012 – Alliance Française Photography Award
2011 – Culture Ireland Funding Award
2008 – 2010 – Higher Education and Training Awards Council, Ireland
PUBLICATIONS
2022 – Condition Report Register (In conjunction with ‘The Fertiliser Spreader’ in ‘A Growing Enquiry – Art & Agriculture, Reconciling Values, at Royal Hibernian Academy)
2020- Tomorrow is Sunday- ISBN 978-1-907918-08-7 (Published by Gallery of Photography Ireland in conjunction with ‘A Woman’s Work’)
2017 – Tomorrow is Sunday – ISBN 9780995701854 (Published by PhotoIreland in conjunction with New Irish Works)
2013 – The Legacy Project (Self Published in conjunction with NWCI Commission)
2013 – New Irish Works – ISBN 978-0-9576849-0-4 (In conjunction with PhotoIreland)
2012 – Attention Seekers – ISBN 978-3-942547-15-4 (In conjunction with PogoBooks, Berlin + Galleri Image, Denmark)
EXHIBITIONS – PROJECTS
2024
‘Tomorrow is Sunday’ in Cairde Arts Festival, Sligo (Curated by Yvette Monahan)
‘ Dlúthpháirtíocht: Irish Solidarity with Palestine’, P21 Gallery, London (Curated by Seán an Seanchaí)
‘A Perfect Plan’ in Behind the Curtain, Artworks 2024, VISUAL, Carlow(Curated by Benjamin Stafford)
‘Not Business As Usual’ in Groundwork: Climate awareness in the UCC Art Collection, Glucksman, Cork
‘Not Business As Usual’ in Radical Archaeologies, Glucksman, Cork (Curated by Chris Clarke & Fiona Kearney)
‘Other Worlds’, Regional Cultural Centre, Donegal (Curated by Daniel Nelis)
2023
Photo Museum Ireland – National Photography Collection Tour, glór, Ennis, Co. Clare
THIS RURAL The Mill, Lismore Castle Arts (Curated by Miriam O Connor & Paul McAree)
‘Not Business As Usual’ in Radical Archaeologies at The Glucksman, Cork
2022
‘IMAGES ARE ALL WE HAVE – PhotoIreland Festival, The Printworks, Dublin Castle (Curated by Angel Luis Gonzalez)
‘The Politics of Place’ – Photo Museum of Ireland (Curated by Darren Campion & Trish Lambe)
‘An Animate Land’ – Roscommon Arts Centre, Roscommon (Curated by Naomi Draper)
‘A Growing Enquiry – Art & Agriculture, reconciling values’, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (Curated by Patrick Murphy)
National Photography Collection Exhibition, Photo Museum of Ireland
‘On Possibilities of Frictions’, A4 Sounds, Dublin (Curated by Ilaria Sponda in conjunction with Phroom Platform)
2021
Tomorrow is Sunday, Macroom Town Hall in conjunction with Culture Night Cork County (Solo Show)
Tomorrow is Sunday, Royal Hibernian Academy, Ashford Gallery, Dublin (Solo Show – Curated by Ruth Carroll)
The Positive Space (In conjunction with Gallery Photography Ireland & Brown Thomas, Dublin)
Mass Isolation Project (In conjunction with Gallery Photography Ireland & PHOTO NORTH, Finland)
2020
Tomorrow is Sunday, in partnership with ‘A Woman’s Work’ Creative Europe Cooperation Project and Gallery of Photography Ireland
Cow House Studios, Supported Summer Residency Programme, (Remote Residency)
‘Tomorrow is Sunday’, in conjunction with FAST FORWARD, Women in Photography, Bangalore, India (Presentation by Christine Redmond)
‘Tomorrow is Sunday’, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co. Cork (Solo Show – Curated by Miranda Driscoll)
2019
Collaboration with artist Sarah Browne on ‘Public feeling, Public Art Commission for ‘In Context 4’, Dublin
‘New Irish Works’ at Fotofestiwal Lódz, Lódz, Poland
‘The Parted Veil – Commemoration in Photographic Practices’, The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork
‘The Land is Still Being Formed’. Sternview Gallery, Cork
‘Isla Blue in Active Archive – Slow Institution – The Long Goodbye’, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
2018
‘Soul Noir Festival’, (Group Show), Dublin
‘HALFTONE’, The Library Project, Dublin
Unseen Photofair, Amsterdam with FUTURES
‘5th Edition Bookshow’, Tiff Festival with Cork Photo, Wroclaw, Poland
Interiors and Other Landscapes, Sternview Gallery, Cork
‘Encountering The Land’, ARTWORKS Carlow Arts Festival at VISUAL
188th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show, RHA, Dublin
‘FRESH EYES’ Project, Godsbanen, Aarhus, Denmark with Galleri Image.
Cabinet Seoul, Sallim-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea
2017
‘FRESH EYES’ Project, Galleri Image, Denmark’Post-Picturesque: Photographing Ireland’, Rochester Art Centre, Minnesota, USA
‘New Irish Works II’, The Library Project, Dublin
‘Post-Picturesque: Photographing Ireland’, Perlman Teaching Museum, Minnesota, USA
‘Attention Seekers’, Devonshire Collective Gallery, Eastbourne, UK
‘New Irish Works II’, Photo 17, Zürich, Switzerland
2016
‘(it’s kind of like) telephone’, Artbox Gallery, Dublin
‘New Irish Works II’, Espace L’Homond, Paris
‘Laugh a Defiance’, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin
‘Greetings from Ireland’, Landskrona Foto Festival, Sweden
‘PHOTOTROPISM’, The Library Project, Dublin
‘Folding Landscapes’, G126, Galway
‘Folding Landscapes’, Burren College of Art, Co. Clare
2015
‘Annual’ – Sternview Gallery, Cork
‘HALFTONE’, The Library Project, Dublin
‘VUE’, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin with Artbox Gallery
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick
‘Blue and green should never be seen’, Sternview Gallery, Cork
‘(it’s kind of like) telephone’, Artbox, Dublin
‘Greetings from Ireland’, PhotoIreland Festival, Dublin
‘Greetings from Ireland’, Triennial of Photography Hamburg, Germany
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, The Workhouse Assembly, Callan, Kilkenny
185th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show, RHA, Dublin
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, Regional Culture Centre, Letterkenny
‘Journey to 2017’ with FRESH EYES Project, Ridehuset, Aarhus, Denmark
2014
‘Greetings from Ireland’, The Library Project, Dublin
‘Photo Collection’, Copenhagen, Denmark
‘Now Wakes the Sea’ in conjunction with Kinsale Arts Festival
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, EU House, Dublin
Of The Afternoon, Twenty Twenty Two Gallery, Manchester, UK
Of The Afternoon, Vyner St Gallery Gallery, London, UK
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, Cork City Hall, Cork
2013
‘New Irish Works’, düo, Paris, France
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, 126 Gallery, Tulca Festival of Visual Arts, Galway
‘The Legacy Project’ in ‘Still, We Work’, Gallery of Photography Ireland
‘Rites & Wrongs’, Pingyao International Photography Festival, China
New Irish Works, PhotoIreland Festival, Ormston House, Limerick
2012
‘Project 30 – Emerging Views of Ireland’, Gallery of Photography Ireland
‘Winter Show Open’, RUA RED Gallery – Dublin
‘About Photography’, KAUNAS PHOTO 2012, M.Žilinskas Art Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania
‘A Collection’ curated by Lasse Krog Møller, Galleri Image, Denmark
‘Attention Seekers’, in conjunction with ‘THERE THERE’, Cork, Ireland (SOLO)
182nd Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show, RHA, Dublin
‘Alliance Française Photography’ Shortlist Award, Alliance Française, Dublin
‘Attention Seekers’, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark (SOLO)
2011
‘Winter Show Open’, RUA RED Gallery, Dublin
‘Annual’, Burren College of Art Gallery, Co. Clare
‘Attention Seekers’, Third Space Gallery, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast, UK (SOLO)
‘The 4th Gemini Show!’, Berlin
‘Vote No. 1’ in conjunction with UPSTART, Selected Locations, Dublin
2010
‘Vote No. 1’, Selected Locations, PhotoIreland Festival, Dublin, Ireland (SOLO)
2007
RDS Student Art Awards, RDS, Dublin
Photoworks, Gallery of Photography Ireland
RESIDENCIES
2020 – Cow House Studios, Supported Summer Residency Programme, (Remote Residency)
2016 – FRESH EYES – International Artists Rethink Aarhus, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2015 – Burren College of Art Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award, Ireland [EIARA]
2014 – FRESH EYES – International Artists Rethink Aarhus, Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2014 – Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France
COLLABORATIONS
2019 – Collaboration with artist Sarah Browne on Public feeling a public art commission in conjunction with incontext4, Dublin
2016 – Collaboration with artist Jesse Jones on Laugh a Defiance in conjunction with ‘My Brilliant Friend’, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin
2016 – Collaboration with artist Jesse Jones on publications associated with NO MORE FUN AND GAMES, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
2014- 2016 – Collaboration with artists Sarah Browne + Jesse Jones on In the Shadow of the State,Various locations in Ireland & the UK
CONVERSATIONS + WORKSHOPS
2021 – Royal Hibernian Academy in conjunction with solo show at Ashford Gallery (In conversation with Curator Ruth Carroll)
2021 – Visual Artist Ireland in conjunction with ‘VAI artist talks’ (Artist Talk)
2021 – Gallery of Photography Ireland (In conjunction with ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’ Book Launch)
2021 – Munster Technological University (Crawford College of Art & Design), Cork (Artist Talk)
2021 – A Woman’s Work (In conjunction with Ffotogallery, Cardiff)
2021 – Surviving or Thriving? (In conjunction with Waterford Healing Arts Trust and Arts Council)
2020 – Visual Artists Ireland, Online Visual Arts Cafe (Artist Talk)
2020 – Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (Artist Talk)
2020 – Cork Institute of Technology, Cork (Artist Talk)
2019 – Lewis Glucksman, Cork (Artist Talk in conjunction with ‘The Parted Veil’)
2019 – ‘Active Archive – Slow Institution – The Long Goodbye’, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
2019 – Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork (Artist Talk)
2019 – Burren College of Art (Artist Talk + Studio Visits)
2018 – Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (Artist Talk + Workshop)
2018 – Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork (Artist Talk)
2017 – Aarhus Academy of Fine Art, Aarhus, Denmark (Workshop)
2016 – Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork (Artist Talk)
2016 – Aarhus Photobook Week, Denmark, (In conversation with Eloi Gimeno)
2016 – How to Flatten a Mountain, Cow House Studios’, Wexford (Workshop)
2015 – Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork (Artist Talk)
2015 – Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin (Artist Talk)
2015 – Griffith College Dublin (Artist Talk)
2015 – Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick (Artist Talk)
2015 – Camden Palace, Cork, Ireland (Artist Talk In conjunction with Cork Photo, 2015)
2015 – Burren College of Art, Co. Clare (Artist Talk)
2014 – KBH Film & Foto Skole, Copenhagen, Denmark (Artist Talk)
2014 – Galleri Image, Denmark (Artist Talk)
2012 – Gallery of Photography Ireland (In conjunction with ‘Project 30; Emerging Views of Ireland’)
2012 – Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork, Ireland (Visiting Lecturer)
2012 – Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland (In Conversation with Anna Crudge & Ángel Luis González Fernández)
2012 – Galleri Image, Denmark (Artist Talk)
2011 – The Third Space Gallery, Belfast, (In Conversation with Matt Packer)
BOOK – RELATED EVENTS
2020 – Tomorrow is Sunday, Gallery of Photography Ireland
2017 – FRESH EYES, Galleri Image, Denmark
2016 – The Image Collection, Galleri Image, Denmark
2015 – New Irish Works / The Legacy Project / Attention Seekers at Cork Photo, 2015
2015 – ‘The Legacy Project’, in ‘Still We Work’ Tour 2015 (Donegal, Kilkenny & Limerick)
2014 – Visual Artists Ireland – ‘Get Together 2014’, Dublin
2013 – New Irish Works / The Legacy Project / Attention Seekers at – düo, Paris
2013 – ‘The Legacy Project’, Gallery of Photography Ireland
2013 – Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdamn
2013 – Occupy Space – Reading Room, Limerick
2013 – Visual Artists Ireland – ‘Get Together 2013’, Dublin
2013 – New Irish Works, PhotoIreland Festival
2013 – Limerick International Publishers Salon, Limerick
2012 – Dublin Art Book Fair, TBG+S, Templebar, Dublin
2012 – OFFPRINT, Paris
2012 – New York Art Book Fair2012 – MISS READ Berlin
2012 – The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki during the ‘D’ Photo Book Show
2012 – Zine These #2 Osaka, Japan
2012 – I NEVER READ Art Book Fair & Art Basel
2012 – Photobook SLAM, C/O Berlin’s Berlin Book Days
2012 – Les Rencontres d’Arles
2012 – Zine Release Party, Idrawalot Gallery Berlin
2012 – Attention Seekers published by PogoBooks, Berlin & Galleri Image, Denmark
ONLINE FEATURES – PRINT PUBLICATIONS
Source Photographic Review – The New York Times Magazine – Camera Austria – The Guardian – PogoBooks – The Visual Artists News Sheet – NO MORE FUN AND GAMES, ACT 2 + 3 – Portfolio 12 – La Lettre De la Photographie – PRISM | Photo Magazine – HERE Press – Self Publish, Be Happy – Actual Colors May Vary – O.K Periodicals – LENSCRATCH – aCurator – UNLESSYOUWILL – SuperMassiveBlackHole
EDUCATION
2008 – 2011 – Research Masters ( Funded by HETAC )
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology, Dublin, Ireland
2003 – 2007 – BA (Hons) Photography
Technological University, Dublin, Ireland
COLLECTIONS
Arts Council of Ireland Collection, UCC Art Collection, Photo Museum Ireland, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Office of Public Works, Galleri Image, Denmark. Private Collections in Ireland, UK, France & Canada.